Refrigerator shelf construction



Aug. 16, 1960 H. c. MATHER 2,949,193

REFRIGERATOR SHELF CONSTRUCTION Filed May 29, 1957 INVENTOR. i /aka/a C fifd BY IZZ,

United States Patent REFRIGERATOR SHELF CONSTRUCTION Harold C. Mather, Knoxville, Ill., assignor to Midwest Manufacturing Corporation, Galesburg, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Filed May 29, 19 57, Ser. No. 662,439

Claims. (Cl. 211-143) This invention relates to shelves for cabinets and more particularly to a pull out type of shelf useful in refrigerator cabinets.

Although shelves of the type mentioned are Well known in the art, there have been certain disadvantages connected with the use thereof which the present invention largely overcomes.

Among the disadvantages of the prior art shelf was the fact that they were flimsy and frequently failed when loaded with produce.

Other shelves were very expensive to make, requiring wheels which had to be mounted on suitable axles and which had to run on tracks. These required frequent lubri cation which made them dirty. The tracks accumulated food particles which were diflicult to clean and interfered with the operation. Furthermore, each shelf had to be designed for a particular size of cabinet and could not be used in cabinets of varying width and depth.

The present invention contemplates the use of certain.

key parts which may be the same regardless of cabinet size and which may be assembled with other parts of different size to provide shelves for cabinets of different dimensions.

A further advantage of the invention resides in the fact that the parts may all be easily disassembled for cleaning and sterilization purposes, and can quickly be removed or assembled in the cabinet with a minimum of skill and effort.

- A further advantage resides in the fact that no lubrication is required and that because of the construction it is possible to support a greater load with the shelf in an extended position, without dangerof breakage.

Still other advantages of the invention andthe invention itself will become more apparent from the following specific description of an embodiment thereof illustrated.

in the accompanying drawing which forms a partof this specification.

In the drawing: Fig. 1 is a plan view of a shelf in position in a cabinet the inner wall only of which isshown;

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1; Figs. 3 to 7 inclusive, are sectional'views taken along the lines 33, 44, 55, 6--6 and 7--7 respectively, on Fig. 1;.and

Fig. 8 is a back elevational view of a rear support,

element.

Referring now to the drawings, throughout which like parts have been designated by like reference characters,v briefly my invention contemplates front and rear supports,

. Patented Au '16, 1960:.

2 r a I The shelf itself comprises a grill like member having a front bar 10 spaced from a rear bar 11 and a plurality of reach wires or rods 12 extending between the front and rear bars and secured thereto by welding to provide a substantially integral shelf. There is illustrated a guard rail 14, secured to the rear bar, which is above an parallel to the rear bar.

The front and rear bars have extending ends for engagement in the other parts about to be described and preferably the endmost rods 12 are bent outwardly at 12a for purposes later to be explained.

The shelf is slidably supported and interlocked with upper and lower guide rails and supports. At the rear 16 of the cabinet, there is provided a plastic wall engaging. support, a view of which is shown in Fig. 8, which comprises a body 20 of generally triangular contour having.

openings 21 which enable it to be secured to the rear wall.

the support and the cabinet wall and the other end of" the spring projects freely into the recess 23 and may be compressed by the end of a guide rod or rail 30 (-Fig. 2),

one end of which projects into the recess 23 and engages with the end of the spring 24.

The guide rails 30, one of which is disposed on each side of the cabinet, may be of any desired cross section. such as round, polygonal or triangular but preferably are,

square. The rod extends from the rear support to a front support spaced from the front opening 16a.

The forward end of each of the rods 30 is disposed in;

asquare socket 31b in respective front guide members 31, Figs. 2, 3 and 5. The forward end of the guide member is provided with a projection 31a which extends into a;

recess 32a of a wall bracket 32 secured to the side Wall by a suitable self-tapping screw 32, Fig. 4. The opening The guide member which; is first installed on rod 30' may be considered as being substantially integral with the rod.. As can best be seen from Fig. 2, the end of rod 30, with the assembled guide, isjinserted in the socket 23 and pressed inward compress- 32a faces toward the rear.

ing the spring 24. .The end of rod 30 with the guide,

member is lowered until the projection 31a is opposite the recess 32a. The pressure on the rod is then released and the spring pushes the rod outward causing projection 31a to nest in the recess 32a.. It will be noted from- Fig. 4 that the projection 31a does notfit tightly in the;-

socket, but is capable of considerable lateral movement therein. This providesa floating action that enables the tolerances of the other parts used to have a-greater-latie. Each of the guide rods 30 provide a guide and. support for. the shelf, which is slidable outwardly upon" the rod to an extent limited by the length of the rod and. a spacer 35 which is in the form of a hollow sleeve of, square cross section that is slidably disposed on the rod,

tude.

although it is not necessary that it be freely slidable.

V The shelf support rod 40, like the rod 30, may also. be of square cross section. It supports the shelf and in turn is supported by guide rods.

The rear end of the shelf support. rod 4ft extendssnugly into a square socket 41a'of a guide block. 41,

Figs. 2 and 7. This block is also provided with asquare passage 41b which enables it. to be slidably mounted.

on the guide rod 30 which extends therethrough. At,

one rear corner the block 41 is provided with. atcylinfl drical socket 40c which receives and supports-theend of the rear bar 11' of the shelf rack. Q'Ih'eblock is held, against movement rel'ativeto the rear bar 11 and like 3 end of the bar held in the socket by a leg 41d which extends downwardly from the top of the block in spaced parallel relation thereto over the outwardly bent portion 120 of the end reach rod 12. V

The fr'ontportion of the support rod 40 is secured to the guide rod assembly by an overhanging arm 310 on the. front guide member 31, Fig. 4. The support rod 40 may therefore slide relative to the guide rod since the rear bracket 41 is slidable on the guide rod and the intermediate portions of the support rcd slide in the channel supplied by the arm 31c of the front guide member 31.

The shelf is secured to the front ends of the support rods 40 by corner connecting blocks 50, each of which includes a rectangular socket 50a for receiving the end of the rod 40. Each connecting block 50 also has a cylindrical socket 50b extending at right angles to the socket 50a for receiving the end of the front bar 10. As can best be seen from Fig. 3, a laterally extending arm 50c extends outwardly under the reach rod 12' and has an upwardly extending hook 50d which engages the side of the wire. The block is thus held against movement relative to the front bar and the corner block held in position.

Preferably the shelf, the support bars and the guide bars are all assembled prior to insertion in the cabinet. Then the assembly maybe placed in the cabinet with the guide bars in the sockets 23, pressed rearwardly to compress the springs and lined up with the projections 31a opposite the sockets 32a. Upon release the projections 31a nest in the respective sockets 32a and the assembly is in position. It may be removed for cleaning by reversing the assembly process. The arm 310 of the front guide member 31 may extend forwardly at 31d to engage the corner block 50 so that when pressure is applied to the front bar 10 it is transmitted through the corner blocks 50 to the extension 31d of the socket member 31 and thence to the guide rail 30.

As is apparent, only four brackets are necessary for each shelf. The bars may be of metal and the other parts of nylon or other plastic material. Consequently, these parts will slide easily, require no lubrication and not wear excessively.

Because of the manner of support, the shelf may be extended fully without danger of disassembly. The shelf will also support a considerable amount of weight in its extended position without danger of breakage. The amount the shelf can be extended can be determined by the length of the sleeve 35. Thus, if it is apparent that the shelf will bear a very heavy load, a longer sleeve can be used, thus distributing the support in the extended positions.

Having thus described my invention I am aware that numerous and extensive departures may be made therefrom without departing from the spirit or scope thereof as defined by the appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. A shelf construction for a cabinet having rear and side walls including a rear socket member connected to the rear wall and having resilient compressible means therein and a front socket member secured to the side wall near the front of the cabinet, a guide rod having a rear end disposed in the rear socket member and having a front guide member disposed on the other end, said guide member having means for locking engagement with the front socket member, a shelf, a shelf support rod disposed alongside the guide rod and having a rear guide and shelf support member slidably connected to the guide rod and having means for interlocking engagement with said shelf, said front guide member having means for slidably engaging the support rod, and shelf support means on the front end of the support rod having means for interlocking engagement with said shelf.

2. Ashelf construction for a cabinet having rear and side Walls including a rear socket member supported by the rear wall and having resilient compressible means therein and a front socket member supported by the side wall near the front of the cabinet and having a socket recess therein, a guide rod having a rear end disposed in the rear socket member in engagement with and compressing said spring and having a front guide member disposed on the other end, said guide member having means for locking engagement with the front socket member, a shelf having outwardly directed portions at its rear corners, a shelf support rod disposed alongside the guide rod and having a rear guide and shelf support member slidably connected to the guide rod and having a socket means for receiving and holding said outwardly directed portions of said shelf, said front guide member having guide means for slidably engaging the support rod, and shelf support means on the front end of the support rod having means for interlocking engagement with said shelf.

3. A shelf construction for a cabinet having rear and side walls comprising a rear socket member at the rear wall of the cabinet, said rear socket member having a forwardly facing recess therein, a front guide member having a rearwardly facing recess therein, means supporting said front guide member from one of the side walls of the cabinet adjacent the front thereof, a guide rod having its rear end removably seated in said recess in the rear socket member and extending forward therefrom adjacent said one side wall of the cabinet and having its front end removably seated in said recess in said front guide member, said rear socket member having yieldable resilient means at said recess therein which biases said guide rod forward into seating engagement in said recess in said front guide member, a shelf, a shelf support rod connected to said shelf and extending alongside said guide rod, said front guide member slidably receiving said shelf support rod, and a rear guide member connected to said shelf support rod and slidably mounted on said guide rod.

4. A shelf construction for a cabinet having rear and side walls comprising a rear socket member at the rear wall of the cabinet, said rear socket member having a forwardly facing recess, a front guide member supported from one of the side walls of the cabinet and having a rearwardly facing recess, a guide rod having its rear end removably received in said recess in the rear socket member and extending forward therefrom adjacent said one side wall of the cabinet and having its front end removably received in said recess in the front guide member, one of said members having yieldable resilient means at its recess which biases said guide rod toward the other of said members for seating engagement in the latters recess, a shelf, a shelf support rod connected to said shelf and extending alongside said guide rod, said front guide member slidably receiving said shelf support rod, and a rear guide member connected to said shelf support rod and slidably mounted on said guide rod.

5. A removable shelf arrangement for a cabinet having rear and side walls comprising: a pair of rear socket members, each said rear socket member having a forwardly facing recess and being mounted at the rear wall of said cabinet adjacent to a respective side thereof; a pair of front support members-each having a rearwardly facing recess, each of said front support members being mounted adjacent to a respective side wall at the front of said cabinet; 2. guide rod extending substantially parallel to said side walls removably inserted in the rearwardly facing recess and the forwardly facing recess of each respective pair of said members; at least one of said members having yieldable resilient means at its recess for urging at least one of said guide rods towards its respective pair member for seating engagement in the latters recess; a shelf; a pair of shelf support rods connected to parallel sides of said shelf, each said shelf support rod extending alongside a respective one of said guide rods and being slidably received by a respective one of said front guide members; and rear guide members connected to respective ones of said shelf support rods and slidably mounted on respective ones of said guide rods.

Otte Apr. 3, 1934 Otte Sept. 11, 1934 6 Cook Sept. 25, 1934 Summers June 18, 1935 Brochstein Nov. 22, 1949 Sklenar Nov. 3, 1953 Chambers Sept. 21, 1954 Waltz Aug. 16, 1955 Diack Feb. 7, '1956 Hutzelman June 19, 1956 

